Doing better by accident
Jan 22
I have spent decades without asking God for a penny and yet God is blessing us more than we’ve ever had and its working better than me begging, you see if you begin to using prayer to just say “father I just love you, you are the centre of my life” and you worship God and you fellowship you know what he would supernaturally add all these other things and you wouldn’t have to know how to pray and bind poverty and do all of these things. You would do better accidentally than you ever have done on purpose.
The above is a quote from the third message of Andrew Wommack on his series a better way to pray. I continue down the road that God has been teaching me – the truth of Matthew 6:33 “seek first the kingdom of god and all these things will be added.
I have been in business on my own for 10 years and have really struggled. I know what it is like to beg God for finance and I know what it is to try and do everything by your own strength and power. Along the way I have realised that business is tough and that I am probably not gifted in that department. My heart has always longed after the things of God, but I have never sought or tried to seek the call of God into the ministry. If he wanted me he would call me. And so I continue in this business. At this age things are not getting easier – we are at the most expensive stage of our lives I believe with both kids at private schools (which cost more than university fees by far).
But God has echoed Matthew 6:33 in my heart for months now. In fact it has been for much longer (you only have to have been reading the past posts in this blog series to know that).
But I have been doing my best to do exactly this – seek God first. Suddenly I am seeing God starting to do things that are amazing. Someone today just sent a payment to us – we did not know he had not paid. Somehow it slipped through and we were not expecting payment from this source – and BAM – proof of payment. It is too soon to say we are through the tricky times, but I am starting to see God come through and to see that when I try in my own strength, stuff just goes pear shaped. When I spend more time seeking him than worrying about business, he supplies my needs.
I know testing is coming and boy have I been tested in December – leanest Christmas ever in living memory. But God…. but God… hallelujah
Standing in his grace
Jan 22
Romans 5: 1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.
As I meditate and reflect on this passage of scripture I see that it could take weeks to unravel the depth of all this. The first verse starts with the word therefore. In chapter four Paul makes his case for justification by faith. He starts way back at Abraham and recounts how God gave Abraham the promise of being father of the nations and how Abraham believed in spite of his circumstances. By the end of the chapter Paul has shown that it is through faith and grace that we are saved.
So, as a result of this we are justified. It all starts with faith in Jesus. And this justification (this complete right standing with God) brings peace. This peace is the sense of peace as far as God is concerned with our spirit and soul. This is not speaking about having a stress free life as can be seen in the next couple of verses. So it all starts with God’s grace and our response to is grace which is faith. These two work together and result in us being right before God. In fact verse two says we have access to God’s grace through faith. Grace is God’s mercy and gifts which we do not deserve. It is God loving us so much that we cannot do anything to make Him love us any more or any less. This grace is a gift from God, to us who are totally undeserving of his favour. But we get to stand in his grace by an act of faith. Faith is a verb – it requires an action. Grace alone cannot save anyone, it is through faith and grace.
But it wonderful to think that God brings us into his grace and lets us stand there. It shows a positional truth of whom we are and where we are in Christ. If we stand in grace God sees us as perfect, he sees us as having no sin, he sees us as being totally forgiven, he sees us as fulfilling all his requirements.